Arion.Net is where I post random thoughts once in a while and document some of the projects and hacks I've worked on in my spare time over the years. All opinions posted here are my own and don't represent those of my employer.

Arion.Net has been through a number of changes over the years. My first web site was pretty rudimentary when I put it up in 1996 (!!!). Until recently, I was running Drupal. It served me well for a good ten years. In the early days I would post occasional articles ...

I've spent the last couple of months working on site at a client's
location. I've spent most of the time in a conference room up on the
12th floor of the client's building. The view from the conference room
is nice, but I was kind of ...

I normally don't blog about myself much -- I mostly blog about my
projects, etc. However, Rick
tagged me. I don't know where this whole "tag, you're it" thing started.
Oh well. Guess I'm on the hook now to respond. Read more to see how I
answered ...

Hello! Some of you reading this entry may have been directed here
because you connected to the wireless network I have running at my
house. If you joined the arionnet unprotected network and then tried
to visit a web site, you might have been surprised to see this page.
Don ...

Hey. After seeing that the last article posted was in December of 2004
(!!!) maybe you thought I'd given up on my web site. Not so fast! I've
been busy with work, life, and everything in between. However, I've got
some new content to post soon. Look for ...

Ok. I admit it. I'm hooked on J-Dorama. What is J-Dorama you ask? Well,
J-Dorama shows (or JDrama, whichever you prefer) are prime-time TV
dramas shown in Japan. J-Doramas usually consists of ten to twelve
1-hour episodes about a group of people and their relationships. Most
have a central ...

Microsoft's XBOX provides a great
platform for the inner hardware-hacker in me. But by 'hardware-hacker' I
mean taking stuff apart and soldering a couple wires. I'm definitely not
a real hardware hacker, like some of the guys I know. However, I do
enjoy playing around with a piece ...

My good friend Rick is an
avid bicyclist. I suppose that isn't very out of the ordinary. However,
he lives in New York City and when I saw him last he said that riding
his bike is his primary means of transportation. After seeing how crazy
the people in ...

One of my good friends
David has
an uncanny resemblance to someone famous. Every time I get together with
him I always give him a hard time by telling him that he looks just like
Dave
Mustaine,
the lead singer of the heavy metal group
Megadeth.
I dunno. Maybe I ...

I took another trip to Detroit a few weeks back (yes, I enjoy visiting
depressing US cities) and found something I didn't expect:
Romulans. It
looks like the city has been overrun! I guess that means the
neutral-zone
is actually near the Detroit airport. I better inform the Federation!

It has been quite a while since my last entry here. I guess the reason
is that this page really isn't a blog -- its more of a content
management system for me. I only post articles when I have something
useful to say or point out, not to document ...

I went one of the events of the National Cherry Blossom
Festival
today: the Lantern Lighting ceremony. Although this event was one of the
first of the festival, it looks like the trees are already in full
bloom. It was a beautiful spring day and the trees were breathtaking.

Today I came to the realization that Northern Virginia is full of
burbclaves. I guess I always knew I lived in one, but today I was given
solid evidence. I spent the afternoon walking around the new
neighborhood going up near my house. This new neighborhood seems to be
the ...

A couple of years ago I bought a memory dongle. You know, one of those
little devices you can plug into a USB port on your computer and it
shows up as a disk drive. It is damn convenient and I always carry it
with me. For a while, it ...

My friend Brian sent me this
link to a
very funny news article. Thinking about getting a 'cool' Asian tattoo?
Think again! The tattoo artist in this article has decided to take
matters into his own hands and label people appropriately with skin-art.